Oil well pump



July 8, 1941. w. R. MOKAY 2,248,302

oIL WELL PUMP Filed March 10, 1937 az 2a 23 z8 30 [l ao 2z aa Fig! a IR. .34 W ,Z INVENTO 22 BY dw- @JW-w.

2z ATTORNEY.

v E ze@ Patented July 8, 1941 OIL WELL PUMP WilliamR. McKay, Southgate,Calif., assignor of one-half to Harry F. Langlois and Herbert N.

Langlois Application March 10, 1937, Serial No. 130,060

(Cl. S-239) 4 Claims.

My invention relates to oil well pumps, and it has for a purpose theprovision of a pump which embodies a chamber or barrel adapted to befilled with oil through a gravity flow in a Well and producing a pumpingaction by direct application of an impelling fluid such as gas or airupon the surface of the oil contained in the chamber or barrel, withvalved means for controlling the admission and exhaust of the impeilingiluid, and other valved means for controlling the oil induction andeduction.

It is also a purpose of my invention to provide an apparatus embodying aplurality of pumping units, each of which is characterized as abovedescribed, and the several units structurally associated to form aunitary pumping mechanism, but acting successively upon the oil toelevate it in steps or stages.

I will describe only one form of oil Well pump embodying my inventionand will then point out the novel features thereof in claims.

In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. 1 is a view showing in side elevation with portions thereof brokenaway and other portions in section, one form of oil well pump embodyingmy invention in applied position within a well.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged central vertical sectional view of the lowermostpumping unit of the pump shown in Fig. 1 disposed within a well.

Although my invention may consist of a single pumping unit, in itspresent exemplii'lcation and to render it adaptable to oil wells ofpresent day depths, it consists of a plurality of pumping unitsidentical in construction and operation and structurally associated onewith the other as to form a unitary pumping mechanism, as shown inFig. 1. There are a suicient number of these units to form a string ofsuch length that the uppermost unit is at the top of the well and thelowermost submerged in the oil within the Well.

Each pumping unit comprises a barrel l5 closed at its upper end by ahead I6, while its lower end is formed with a head I1 having ports I8for admitting oil or any other influent into the barrel. Below the upperhead is a subhead or partition I9 which forms therewith an interveningchamber 20, and this subhead is formed with ports 2|.

A section of a conduit 22 for air, gas or any on the conduit 22 andoccupy an upper extreme position (shown in solid lines in Fig. 2) inwhich it closes the ports 2|, and a lower extreme posi- Vtion in whichit closes the ports I8, as shown in broken lines in the same iigure. Theimpelling fluid from the conduit 22 is admitted to the chamber 20through ports 25 for application through the ports 2| to the float valveand the influent contained in the barrel, as will be describedhereinafter.

Housing the barrel I5 but spaced therefrom is a container 26 dependingfrom an upper head 21 having a central flanged opening 28 into which theupper end of the conduit section 22 is screwed, for connection to theconduit section 22 for the next pumping unit above which is likewisescrewed into the opening. This head 21 contains a plurality of eductionvalves 29 which open upwardly only to allow the influent to flow fromthe container upwardly into a tubular connecting housing 30 for the nextpumping unit above and to thus trap such influent in the housing. Thishousing is threaded at its lower end on the ilanged periphery 3| of thehead 26, and at its upper end on the periphery 3| of the next head aboveto form a chamber 32 connecting the two adjacent pumping units. Inpractice, it is unnecessary to provide the lowermost pumping unit with ahousing 30, but it has been shown to illustrate how another pumping unitmay be connected thereto when required.

The lower end of the container 26 is closed by a head 33 containinginduction Valves 34 which permit the influent to flow into the containerbut which prevent its expulsion therefrom. These valves 34 as Well asthe eduction valves 29 are of the convention ball check type with cages34a and 29a, as illustrated.

In the application of my pump to an oil well, the several pumping unitsform a string of sufflcient length to cause the lowermost pumping unitto be partly or completely submerged in the oil within the well, whilethe housing 30 for the uppermost pumping unit projects from the wellcasing 35, as shown in Fig. l. This particular housing is closed by aplate 36 through which the conduit 22 extends for connection to a tank31 in which the impelling iluid for operating the pump is stored from apressure pump P.

A three-Way rotary control valve 38 is interposed in the conduit 22between the storage tank 38 and the pump housing 30, and the body ofthis valve has a port 39 leading to atmosphere, a port 40 leadingv .'tothe conduit, and a third port 4| leading to the tank. Suitable mechanism(not shown) is provided for rotating the valve-38 continuously and at apredetermined speed to cause it to rst supply the impelling fluid to.the conduit at the required pressure to operate the several pumpingunits, and then to relieve the units of the impelling fluid byexhausting it to atmospherethrough the port 40, all in a continuousoperation to complete one cycle of operation of the pump. Oil as liftedfrom the well by the pump is discharged from the housing 30 of theuppermost pumping unit Ithrough a; pipe 42 which is adapted forconnection to a storage tank (not shown), as will be understood.

In the operation of the pump, the string is lowered into the Well untilthe lowermost pumping unit is submerged in the oil contained in thewell, as illustrated in Fig. 1. With such submergence oil ows by gravitythrough the induction valves 34 to partly fill the container 26 andthrough the ports I8 to completely iill the barrel I5. Filling of thebarrel causes the float valve 23 to rise to the top of the barrel andclose the ports 2l to prevent overflow of oil into the chamber 20.

With the lowermost pumping unit primed with oil as. described, operationof the control valve 38 causes the impelling iiuid to be supplied to allof the pumping units but inasmuch as the lowermost unit is the only oneprimed with oil the impelling uid is only operativeto actuate this oneunit, and in the following manner.

The impelling fluid from the conduit 22 enters the chamber 20 throughthe ports 25 where it is evenly distributed and so applied to lthe floatvalve 23 through the ports 2|. Thus in effect the impelling fluid isapplied to the surface of the oil in the barrel to displace the oiltherefrom and cause it to pass into the container 26. It will beunderstood that the valve 23 does not have la piston-like fit in thebarrel and hence, impelling fluid will leak by the valve. Such fluidleakage is effective on the surface of the oil to displace it from thebarrel. 'Ihe oil thus added to the container is suiiicient to overflowthe latter and pass into the chamber 32 through the eduction valves 29where it is retained against backow by the valves.

As the oil is expelled from the barrel the float valve descends, finallyreaching its lower extreme position in which it closes the ports I8 toprevent the impelling fluid from passing into the container 26.

Through continued operation of the control valve 38 the impelling fluidin the barrel and the conduit is now exhausted .to atmosphere relievingthe oil in the container 26 of pressure so that the oil in the wellagain flows into the container through the induction valves 34 to refillthe barrel. I n this operation, the oat valve 23 is again elevated toits upper extreme position to close the ports 2|.

Thus, one cycle of operation of the lowermost pumping unit is completed,and by succeeding operations suiiicient in number to fill the housing 30for the next unit above, such unit becomes primed and the barrel l forthat unit filled with oil to elevate the respective float valve 23. Uponapplying the impelling fluid to that barrel in the continuous operationof the control valve, the oil is displaced from the barrel into therespective container and retained therein by the corresponding inductionvalves.

Manifestly with continued operation of the pump all pumping units becomeprimed and are thus set-into operation to lift the oil in successivestages until it ows in a continuous stream from the discharge pipe 42.

A pump constructed in accordance with my invention does not require ahigh starting pressure of the impelling fluid, and the running orworking pressure is relatively low and hence the pump is economical inoperation. Also, regardless of the depth of the well or the number ofpumping units the pressure of the impelling fluid required to lift theoil or other influent from any one pumping unit to the other is the samefor al1 of the units.

Although I have herein shown and described only one form of pistonembodying my invention, it is to be understood that various changes andmodifications may be made herein without departing from the spirit of myinvention and the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A pump for oil wells and the like, comprising a housing, a containeron the lower end of the housing, valved means in .the lower end of thecontainer for admitting oil to the container when the latter issubmerged in oil, valved means in the upper end of the containerpermitting oil to pass only from the container into the housing, abarrel within the container having lower ports in its bottom forvadmitting oil from the container into lthe barrel to ll the latter upperports in the top of the barrel, a float valve movable in the barrel toclose the lower ports when the barrel is empty and .to close the upperports when the barrel is lled, and means for supplying an impelling uidto the upper ports for displacing oil from the lled barrel into thecontainer, and then exhausting the fluid from the barrel to permitrefilling thereof with oil from the container.

2. A pump for oil Wells and the like, comprising a housing, a containeron the lower end of the housing, valved means in the lower end of thecontainer for admitting oil to the container when the latter issubmerged in oil, valved means in the upper end of the containerpermitting oil to pass only from the container into the housing, abarrel withinthe container having an upper head, a lower head, and asubhead beneath the upper head to form an intervening chamber,

a conduit extending axially through the barrel and closed at its lowerend, upper ports in the conduit at the point opposite said chamber,lower ports in the lower head for admitting oil to the barrel from thecontainer, a oat valve in the barrel and slidable on the conduit toclose the lower ports when the barrel is empty and to close the upperports when the barrel is filled, and means for supplying an impellingfluid to the upper ports for displacing oil from the lled barrel intothe container, and then exhausting the fluid from the barrel to permitrefilling thereof with oil from the container.

3. A pump for oil wells and the like, comprising; a plurality of pumpingunits arranged one above the other and each comprising a container,valved means in the lower end of the container for controlling theinduction of oil into the container, a second valved means in the upperend of the container for controlling the eduction of oil from thecontainer, a barrel within the container having lower ports in itsbottom and upper ports in its top; a conduit common to all of thepumping units extending axially through all of the barrels, and adaptedfor connection to a source of impelling fluid, ,ports in said conduitpositioned to admit the impelling fluid into each barrel through saidupper ports for displacing oil from the barrel, a oat valve in each ofthe barrels slldable on the conduit to close said upper ports in itsupper extreme position and to close said lower ports in its lowerextreme position, land housings each connecting the containers offorming a closed chamber connecting the two, a conduit having portsleading to all of the barrels at the top thereof, a source of pressureiluid adapted for vconnection to the conduit, a valve controlling thesupply of fluid from said source to the conduit for displacing theliquid from the barrels upwardly into said containers and thenconnecting the conduit to atmosphere for relieving the barrels of thepressure iiuid to allow re- 10 iilling thereof with liquid, and valvedmeans in the containers controlling the induction and eduction of liquidinto and from the containers in such manner that the liquid educted fromone container is induced into the next container 15 above.

WILLIAM R. MCKAY.

